Mobile Bill Tax<\/em>
\nGovt may review proposal<\/strong>
\nFinance Minister AMA Muhith has hinted at reversing a plan to impose 2 percent tax at source on mobile phone bills.\u00a0Responding to a query on whether he would review the fact that the tax to be entirely borne by customers, he said, \u201cIt certainly needs consideration. Let’s see.\u201d
\nMuhith was talking to journalists in an open discussion at Osmani Memorial Auditorium in the capital yesterday, a day after he had presented the budget for 2012-13 fiscal in parliament.
\nIn the discussion, a journalist observed that the new tax would be a burden for the lower-income people, such as rickshaw pullers and farmers.
\nIn his budget speech, the minister proposed the tax on the total bill for post-paid subscribers and on every recharging for pre-paid users.
\nThe tax plan has spawned confusion among consumers and industry leaders.
\nThe country’s around nine crore mobile users already pay 15 percent value added tax. If the new tax proposal is taken into account, they would have to pay 17 percent tax which might trouble the people of the lower income brackets, said industry insiders.
\nTax to be deducted at source on mobile bills, as mentioned in budget documents, was misleading, said AF Nesaruddin, a chartered accountant and partner of Hoda Vasi Chowdhury & Co. Tax deducted at source is a way of collecting income tax and should not be mixed with consumption tax, he said.
\n\u201cAs for mobile bills, there is no element of income tax for users. Tax on mobile bills can be termed consumption tax or levy,\u201d he said, \u201cMost importantly, tax at source is adjustable against the total income tax liability, but consumption tax is not.\u201d
\nMentionable, the value added tax is a form of consumption tax.<\/p>\n

-With The Daily Star<\/span> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mobile Bill Tax Govt may review proposal Finance Minister AMA Muhith has hinted at reversing a plan to impose 2 percent tax at source on mobile phone bills.\u00a0Responding to a query on whether he would review the fact that the tax to be entirely borne by customers, he said, \u201cIt certainly needs consideration. Let’s see.\u201d … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[209,199,8248],"yoast_head":"\n